Progress on canal repairs sparks hope but funding questions loom
It was welcome news for Kern County farmers, but word last week that the process of fixing the Friant-Kern Canal has finally begun may have obscured the fact that a great deal of work lies ahead — including finding money to complete the job.
Federal officials say almost 30 percent of the engineering required to repair the 152-mile canal has already been done, and that has led to assessments that the entire, two-part project could be accomplished within a period of perhaps three years. There’s also hope that a construction contract could be awarded as soon as late 2020.
But what the federal Bureau of Reclamation announced Dec. 4 had less to do with actual construction than the start of a scoping process required in advance of federal and state environmental reviews that will, in turn, factor into a mandatory, four-part federal feasibility study.
In other words, many important questions remain to be answered before it becomes clear when — or, really, whether — repairs to the canal will be made.
“We’re very early in the process here,” said Adam Nickels, deputy program manager for the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, a five-agency organization looking at helping to fund the canal project.
But he also voiced optimism, saying that although there is little clarity on where exactly the money will come from to fix the canal, “we think we have a road map to get us there.”
Serving seven municipalities and some 18,000 family farms, the gravity-powered water conveyance is one of the most important water infrastructure projects in the southern Central Valley.
Built between 1949 and
1951, the canal initially provided water to farmers in Kern County at a rate of between 2,500 and 3,500 cubic feet per second.
But because of land subsidence caused by over-pumping of groundwater, the canal has sunk. That has limited the maximum flow to Kern County to a little less than 1,600 cubic feet per second, according to the Friant Water Authority, which operates and maintains the project.
Underscoring the value of fixing the canal, state Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, asserted in a news release Dec. 4 that the canal plays a “key role in the economy of the Central Valley.” She thanked the federal government for beginning the project’s environmental review.
“Restoring the canal will support our farmers who put food on America’s table, increase our water supply and benefit the environment by helping recharge our aquifers,” she stated in the release.
Early this year, a bill co-authored by Grove and state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, proposed to spend $400 million from California’s General Fund on making repairs to the canal. But the legislation stalled in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
On Dec. 6, Rep. T.J. Cox, D-Fresno, announced his introduction of legislation that would provide $200 million toward the canal’s repair.
Even if the bill passes, it’s unclear whether it will be enough to fix the canal. The job has been estimated to cost between $200 million and $700 million. The actual price tag won’t be known until the completion of the feasibility study looking at the project’s technical, environmental, financial and economic aspects.
People involved in the project say the most likely solution will be a cost-sharing agreement in which the federal government contributes perhaps half the project’s budget and the rest comes from a mix of state and local sources, likely including farmers and others who use the canal’s water and have already pitched in at least $10 million toward the effort.
“This is going to be a blend. There’s not going to be just one bucket of money,” said Alexandra Biering, the water authority’s government affairs and communications manager.
If the funding remains up in the air, the engineering is somewhat less uncertain.
A preliminary federal environmental review says the latest plan for repairing the canal consists of two parts.
One would enlarge, or raise, 10 miles of the northernmost and southernmost segments of the canal’s
banks existing concrete liner to up to 4 feet high. Biering said that would be done as a way of making the canal resilient in case of further subsidence.
The other component would involve the construction of a new, 23-mile conveyance east of the existing canal. Most of the existing canal would be abandoned and its lining reused, wherever possible, for construction of the replacement segment.
The alternate canal segment would require construction of new infrastructure and the acquisition of 510 acres of new right-of-way, according to the preliminary review.
The review also found the repairs proposed could have potentially significant environmental impacts on prime farmland, air quality, natural habitat, greenhouse-gas emissions, historical resources and groundwater quality.
A scoping meeting to begin formally assessing the proposal’s potential impacts is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18 at the U.S. Forest Service’s Sequoia National Forest headquarters at 1839 S. Newcomb St. in Porterville.
No child is quite like another — they come in a variety of shapes, sizes and personalities, and they learn and grasp concepts at different paces.
Often times even siblings show a difference in school performance. Yesenia Yanes’ has taught her two children — Ariel Perez, a first grader, and Ethan Perez, a kindergartner — basic reading and math skills at home, but noticed they were at two different stages of comprehension.
“With her I’ve never had a hard time in school, but he has a speech problem,” explained Yanes. “The first time he was tested at school, he didn’t know his ABCs or numbers. I taught them at home, but it wasn’t clicking with him.”
She decided to look for more individualized support and found Kumon, a learning program that specializes in math and reading skills for children ages 3 through 18 that just recently opened in Bakersfield.
It’s only been three weeks and though progress takes time, her son’s teacher told her she noticed improvements.
“He tested way higher than he did in the beginning of the year,” Yanes said.
Kumon is just one of several tutoring and learning centers in Bakersfield and Kern County that strive to help students meet gradelevel reading and math skills, and sometimes even exceed them. These additional programs are valued options considering 43.21 percent and 28.83 percent of all Kern students met or exceeded standards for English/language arts and math, respectively, in the 2018-2019 school year, according to data from California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.
Local school districts also provide tutoring and additional educational opportunities for individual students. Parents are encouraged to check with their school districts about what specialized learning options are available.
“Some students need extra instructional support outside of their regular class time. Tutoring allows the teacher to give individual attention to a student, while targeting the student’s specific academic needs,” explained Brenda Lewis, associate superintendent of instruction for the Kern High School District. “Teachers in the KHSD provide tutoring assistance to students at various times, which include before school, during lunch and after school.”
Julissa Bhakta opened the new Kumon location at 5549 Calloway Drive on Nov. 4. She spent several years in the classroom, but soon realized children learn at their own pace and should have individualized programs available to guide them on their educational journey.
“You’re working early mornings to late afternoons trying to figure out a way to make sure all your kids are learning. ... I was individualizing for groups — my mediums, lows and highs,” Bhakta said of her time in the classroom. “I spent a lot of time trying to differentiate, but there’s only so much you can do, especially being limited by Common Core standards.”
From two friends she learned about Kumon, and with the individualized aspect to it, it seemed like the right fit for her.
In the center’s first month, she and her assistants have been helping 20 families. Students come in twice a week and spend 30 minutes per subject — up to an hour if they do both reading and math.
Children are grade level tested to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Many times those tests reveal students are performing a few grades behind where they should be.
“If they’re a fourth grader but place at second grade math, we would start there,” Bhakta explained. “We start them from where they’re comfortable so that we can progress them.”
Tia Patel, an eighth grader, utilized Kumon during second through sixth grade to help her with reading and math. During those four years, she was taught different math problem solving techniques and how to become a stronger reader which made her stand out among her classmates.
“In sixth grade we had math incentives and I got an award for mastering the most objectives. It really helped,” Patel explained.
Her younger sister, Ariana, a second grader, is currently enrolled in Kumon and is working on sounding out words and multiplication. Her class at school is learning addition and subtraction so she is already moving on to more advanced concepts.
It’s a big responsibility taking a child’s education into her hands and she “takes it personally if they’re not succeeding,” but Bhakta’s confident each child will walk out of Kumon with a better understanding of their homework.
“My goal is to provide enrichment to the community, whether it’s a remedial student trying to get to grade level or students who are at grade level but want a challenge,” she explained. “We make sure we fix our errors to 100 percent so they don’t fall behind. We learn from our mistakes and we keep moving forward.”
Drivers through Hart Park beware. Kern County Park Rangers are now armed with a speed-detecting device and are focused on reducing the number of vehicles that drive through the park above the legal limit.
Since Nov. 1, the rangers have been using a light detection and ranging device — known as LIDAR — to track high speeds throughout Hart Park. The device uses a laser to determine the speed of its target, and is so far considered a success at getting people to slow down.
“My guys are telling me it’s having an effect out there, and I’m sure the longer it goes on, people will get the word out,” said Chief Park Ranger Shane Denton. “The goal is just to get people to slow down so we don’t have someone get run over.”
Although the speed limit throughout Hart Park is 25 miles per hour, drivers are frequently clocked above 40 mph as the speed limit of Alfred Harrell Highway reduces upon entering the park.
At the most recent Parks Commission meeting, Denton reported that the new LIDAR gun had been catching speeders. Commissioner William Chapman indicated he was pleased with the new device and suggested a portion of the speeders were soccer moms and dads trying to get kids to their games on time.
A story has circulated that one ranger even dropped off a kid at a game in the park after pulling the child’s parent over for speeding.
Denton said rangers had not had access to such sophisticated technology for many years. Recently, speed control inside the park had been relegated to a technique known as “bumper clocking,” in which a ranger would drive behind a vehicle for a short distance and use the speed on the dashboard to determine if the driver was speeding.
“But when it comes to the challenge of that citation, the LIDAR is really the most effective way to determine, and to demonstrate, that speed was broken,” said General Services Division Chief Bret Haney.
In the 1990s rangers used a radar gun to catch speeders, but the antiquated device fell out of use. Now, the county hopes to use its new device not only for citations, but also as education.
“We want to make sure the public knows we are out there to keep everybody safe,” Haney said.
The new effort to catch speeders comes at a time when the county is trying to revitalize Hart Park. Officials are working to make a new master plan for the park into a reality.
Kern County residents have complained that the park has fallen off from the glory days, but the new plan calls for the park to be returned to its status as a “jewel” of the county.
Before any of that can happen, though, the county wants to secure the roadways. So think twice before speeding through the park, because somebody may be watching.